Rules of Engagement 2000, Rated R Paramount Home Video

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Starring Tommy Lee Jones, Samuel L. Jackson, et al. Released to DVD on October 17, 2000.

Samuel L. Jackson stars as Marine Colonel Terry Childers. Posted in the Middle East, Childers is asked to take two platoons of marines and "baby-sit" a U.S. Embassy in Yemen that is surrounded by rioters. Arriving on the scene, Childers quickly ascertains that the situation is hot--snipers and enemy gunfire are peppering the building--and that the embassy will have to be evacuated. During the evacuation, Childers opens fire on the crowd, killing 83 supposedly unarmed citizens of Yemen. Returning to America, Childers finds himself on trial for the deaths of the 83 people. He turns to an ex-marine comrade whose life he had saved in Vietnam, Colonel Hayes Hodges (Tommy Lee Jones), to defend him in court. Director William Friedkin's direction is seamless and the tension and courtroom drama anything but played out and stereotypical. Rules of Engagement is one of those movies that is a positively great video find.